books i have been reading aloud to my dad

[dubdobdee]

wildwood: a journey through trees by roger deakin
notes from walnut tree farm by roger deakin
The Naming of Names: The Search for Order in the World of Plants by anna pavord

deakin -- a swimmer, maker in wood and writer -- died two or three years ago, and the second book is posthumous: both are fascinating (not least because he will suddenly start talking about someone or some place dad knows, and now and then some maker i've encountered at crafts magazine); the delicate balance between craft-ish and rural conservatism and political radicalism is also intriguing -- some of his readers become obsessed with him, and it's easy to see why

pavord's book we've only just started: the opening chapter is all about aristotle's appointed successor theophrastus, who wrote the first encyclopaedic guide to plants and how they worked, and who i never heard of till yesterday -- it's a teeny bit dense and repetitive (i guess bloomsbury can't afford proper copy editors) but both scholarly and anecdotally beguiling

Comments

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

haha pavord HATES pliny

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

I developed a slightly Carmodyish crush last year on the Essex/Suffolk constellation of Deakin, Colin Ward and Ronald Blythe. Have you ever read Blythe's Akenfield? Probably the most moving book I read in 2008, and one which inadvertently explains, among other things, the cultural background to Brian Eno's adventures in campanology.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

no i haven't though i have my mum's copy somewhere -- mum and dad both read it

colin ward wrote a few times for crafts mag -- i really like his stuff